I don't own Avengers or its characters. I only own Riley Stark and other OCs that appear in the story.
Take on the World
Chapter 18: Finding the Mandarin
Riley shivered a bit as she stay curled up in the passenger seat.
Tony's speeding was oddly soothing as the hum of the car and the heat from the vents.
Though her father's presence brought a kind of peace over her.
The car ride was silent as Tony and Riley did anything, but look at each other.
The argument before the whole bombing of their house still hung in Tony's head, making him feel as if he were suffocating from the pressure of it all.
Tony actually wanted to apologise to the woman he loved and his only daughter.
Even make up for everything that he had been doing lately, but he found that no words could come out.
He didn't even know what the right words were.
Riley looked at Tony and he glanced at her before looking at the road again.
"So, are we going to talk about the whole you avoiding me and Pepper thing?"Riley asked curiously."Because that's what is ticking on my mind right now. Nothing else."
Tony frowned, his grip on the wheel tightening slightly.
"How about we not talk about any of that yet?"Tony requested.
Riley let out a small sigh.
"That sounds good to me."Riley remarked.
Another silence fell upon the two Starks.
Riley then glanced down at the file that was sitting in her lap before she opened it.
"So, what exactly does this all say?"Riley asked.
Tony glanced at the file and looked back up.
"Oh. That's the file on the disappearance of Chad Davis."Tony exclaimed."Lot of boring stuff in there really, but you already know the gist of it from Harley."
Riley nodded as she flipped through the pages of the files, her warm brown eyes scanning over the giant letters that spelled out M.I.A.
The brunette went to put it aside, but it slipped from her hand and fell to the floor of the car.
Riley frowned and leaned down to pick it up, but paused at the sight of the flipped over piece of paper.
A small chuckle left her lips as she picked up the paper to stare at the letters that now spelled out A.I.M.
"Hey, dad."Riley spoke up."Have you ever noticed how M.I.A spelled backwards spells A.I.M?"
"What?"Tony asked.
"The paper."Riley responded as she held the paper up so that her father could see."It spells out A.I.M instead of M.I.A when backwards."
Tony's eyes widened at that and Riley gave him a confused look.
"What?"Riley asked.
"Call Rhodey."Tony declared.
"What?"Riley said in confusion."Why?"
"Rye-Rye, please don't ask questions."Tony begged, not wanting another argument to happen."I'll explain it later. Right now I just need you to call Rhodey for me."
Riley simply nodded before going to grab Tony's phone.
"Sure."Riley replied."No problem."
Riley unlocked the phone and went to call Rhodey.
Within a matter of seconds, the young brunette was calling him and held the phone up to her ear as she looked out the window, looking bored.
It took a few rings, but Rhodey finally answered the phone.
"Hello?"Rhodey asked.
"Hey, Uncle Rhodey!"Riley greeted.
"Riley? Wait, what? Where have you been?"Rhodey demanded."Pepper's worried sick about you."
"Yeah. Sorry about that. But no time for questions."Riley stated."Dad kind of needs to speak to you."
"Tony's okay too?"Rhodey questioned.
Riley glanced at Tony, who signalled for her to put it on speaker.
The Stark heiress nodded and did as her father told her to do.
"I just put you on speaker so he can talk to you himself."Riley remarked casually.
Riley sat back in her seat as Tony began to speak to Rhodey.
"Hello?"Rhodey repeated.
"You ever have a chick straddling you and you look up and suddenly she's glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?"Tony asked.
Riley furrowed her eyebrows at her father's question.
"Yeah, I've had that."Rhodey responded.
Riley blinked in surprise at her uncle figure's answer.
"Huh?"Riley said.
"Now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, you came looking for me."Tony complemented."What are you doing?"
"Little knock-and-talk, making friends in Pakistan."Rhodey declared."What are you two doing?"
"We're on a road trip."Riley remarked.
"Road trip?"Rhodey questioned.
"Your re-design. Your big re-brand."Tony admitted as he grabbed the paper that Riley had been looking at."That was A.I.M, right?"
"Yeah."Rhodey responded.
Tony frowned and crumbled up the paper before throwing it behind him and into the back of the car.
"I'm gonna find a heavy-duty comm sat right now, I need your login."Tony stated and looked at Riley."Rye-Rye, I need you to jot this for me."
"On it."Riley chuckled.
Riley began to use Tony's phone to start taking notes.
"It's the same as it's always been, 'WarMachine68'."Rhodey informed.
"Password, please, Uncle Rhodey."Riley insisted in a bright tone.
"Well, look, I gotta change it every time you two hack in."Rhodey commented.
"It's not the '80s'."Tony retorted.
"Nobody says 'hack' any more."Riley agreed."Give me your login, please."
"'WAR MACHINE ROX' with an 'X'."Rhodey sighed."All caps."
Tony chuckled while Riley covered her mouth to giggle.
"Yeah."Rhodey muttered in an annoyed tone."Okay."
"That is so much better than 'Iron Patriot'."Tony admitted and gave a quick glance to Riley."Sorry, Rye-Rye."
"What for dad?"Riley questioned.
Riley looked at Tony with a confused expression, only for her father to suddenly turn the wheel so that the car flipped around.
Riley's eyes widen and quickly gripped onto her seat until the spinning had stopped.
Only then did the brunette look up at her father with an unhappy expression.
"I said sorry."Tony stated.
Afterwards, Tony and Riley arrived arrived to Chattanooga; a city in the state of Tennessee.
Both the two Starks were wearing cowboy hats to blend in with the civilians in the city.
"The Hillbilly look?"Riley scoffed and does a fake country accent."Well, shucks, if that don't make me wanna head for the hills."
Tony gave Riley a chuckle.
"Relax, Rye-Rye. You look fine."Tony assured."Besides, we're not in the middle of a fashion show."
The father-daughter duo carefully moved past the people that were around a beauty pageant, where many candidates were trying to obtain the title of Miss Chattanooga.
After a man yelling on his phone passed by, Tony glanced back at him before yanking the door of a WZPZ van open and curtly motioning Riley inside.
Riley squint at one of the camera van's screens as Tony began plugging in different wires and pushing random buttons.
As a white bikini wearing girl stood and waved to everyone, a very familiar old man excitedly held up a sign, ranking the girl a '10'.
A confused look appeared on Riley's face.
Wasn't that the same old guy from New York that was one of the many people interviewed after the Avengers defeated Loki and the Chitauri army?
Riley blushed a bit at seeing all the woman in the beauty pageant all wearing white bikinis.
"How could they all not be cold?"Riley asked curiously."It's the middle of December."
Tony simply made the cowboy hat on Riley's head go down to shield her eyes from the bikini.
"Eyes off the inappropriate, Rye-Rye."Tony instructed, bringing his attention back on the wires."That's why I never you want to enter a beauty pageant or a modelling career."
"Right."Riley answered.
Both Tony and Riley froze at the sound of someone opening up the back of the WZPZ van.
"Excuse me, sir…and child?"the man said."I don't know who-"
Tony turned around and held a finger to his mouth.
"Shh."Tony whispered.
The man's eyes widened and Riley popped her head out from around her father and lifted up the cowboy hat she wore before giving the man an awkward grin.
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened even more.
"Mum, I need to call you back."the man declared on his phone."Something magical is happening."
The man quickly put his phone away before taking his sunglasses off to look at Tony and Riley more clearly.
"The Starks are in my van."the man remarked in excitement.
"Shh!"Tony whispered in a yelling tone."Keep it down!"
"People will hear you!"Riley scowled.
"Tony and Riley Stark are in my van!"the man exclaimed in joy.
"No, we're not."Riley murmured anxiously.
"I knew you were still alive!"the man added.
Tony and Riley glanced at each other before sighing and looking to the man.
"Come on in."Tony whispered."Close the door."
The man nodded and quickly climbed into the van with a huge grin on his face.
He closed the door and looked to the two Starks in shock.
"Oh, wow."the man remarked and looked at Tony."Can I just say, sir…"
"Yep."Tony muttered, already knowing what the man was going to say.
Riley covered her mouth to giggle at her father's look.
"I am your biggest fan."the man admitted.
"Okay. First, is this your van?"Tony questioned."Is anyone else gonna come in?"
"No, no, no."the man assured."Just us."
"Great."Tony responded."What's your name?"
"Gary."the man whispered.
Riley smiled and stood up before holding her hand out.
"Nice to meet you, Gary."Riley remarked.
Gary looked at Riley with utter excitement as he shook her hand.
"I saw the video you published on YouTube. The crazy jackass' wheezing after the Hulk says 'Puny god' had me dying."the man admitted."Honestly, I can't stop watching it cuz it kills me."
"Thanks."Riley chuckled with a smile.
Gary brought his attention back on Tony.
"Can I just say?"Gary suggested.
"What do you want?"Tony assumed."Yeah."
"I don't know if you can tell, but I have, like, patterned my whole look after you, Tony."Gary declared before he took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair."My hair's a little…it's not right."
"It's fine."Tony assured simply.
Riley struggled not to laugh at what she was seeing.
"It's not right, cause there's no product in it."Gary declared.
"Right."Tony muttered.
"I don't want to make things awkward for you, but I do have to show you…"Gary started as he pulled his shirt's sleeve up."Boom!"
Gary turned his arm around and Riley covered her mouth with both her hands to suppress her laughter at the sight of the tattoo of her father's face on the guy's arm.
"A Hispanic Scott Baio."Tony responded, making Gary let out a chuckle."I'm sorry. Is that me?"
"Yeah. It's…I mean…I had them do it off a doll that I made, so it's not like it's off a picture."Gary explained, making Riley's eyes twinkle in amusement."So it's a little bit…"
"Gary. Listen to me, okay?"Tony interrupted as he grabbed the man's arms to tell him of the problem at hand."I don't want to clip your wings, here. We're both a little over-excited. I got an issue. I'm chasing bad guys. Rye-Rye is trying to grab a little something from some hard-crypt data files. We don't have enough juice. I need you to jump on the roof. Right? Recalibrate the lSDNs. Pump it up by about 40%."
"Got it."Gary replied.
"All right?"Riley instructed with a firm look."It's a mission."
"Yeah."Gary muttered.
"Tony needs Gary."Tony said.
"And Gary needs Tony."Gary responded.
Tony rolled his eyes.
"Be quiet about it."Tony instructed slightly."Go."
"Yeah."Gary repeated.
Gary then left the WZPZ van.
As soon as he was gone, Riley burst out laughing and hugged her stomach.
Tony frowned and looked at his daughter as he pointed at her.
"Not funny, Rye-Rye."Tony retorted.
"Sorry, dad!"Riley laughed in amusement."I can't help it!"
Riley then burst into another round of giggles which Tony couldn't help but watch with a smile on his face.
The billionaire hasn't seen his daughter laughing after they moved to Malibu.
After Gary recalibrated the antenna in his van in order for the Starks to access A.I.M.'s encrypted files.
When he did, he knocked on the side of the van signalling to Tony and Riley that they could start.
Tony knocked back while Riley began typing on the computer the username and password that Rhodey gave them to check the files of A.I.M.
"Got it."Riley remarked with a smile.
Tony returned the smile before ruffling Riley's hair.
"Nice work, Rye-Rye."Tony praised.
Riley grinned brightly before getting up, so that her father could sit down and she would sit on the other seat.
Tony was quick to manoeuvre through the screens until he pulled up a small video with a guy on it.
In the files, the two Starks witnessed the interviewing of the injured veterans from the United States Armed Forces that were no other than Chad Davis and Ellen Brandt.
It was the same woman and man that attacked them back in Rose Hill.
"What would you regard as the defining moment of your life?"the voice of a man who was behind the camera questioned.
"Well, uh, I think that would be the day I decided not to let my injury beat me."Chad replied.
Tony pressed another video and one of Ellen Brandt popped up, only this time she was missing an arm.
"Will you please state your name for the camera?"the man in the camera asked.
"Ellen Brandt."Ellen answered.
"Okay."the man in the camera replied."So, the injections are administered periodically."
Tony pressed a button and the view flipped, so that the man in the camera was revealed.
The billionaire let out a sigh, obviously recognising the man.
It was Aldrich Killian.
The founder and CEO of Advanced Idea Mechanics.
Also, the guy he had refused to join his research back in Switzerland.
Riley gave her father a confused look, but Tony didn't seem to notice.
"Addiction will not be tolerated."Aldrich declared."And those who cannot regulate will be out from the programme."
Tony clicked on another video of Aldrich.
"Once misfits and cripples."Aldrich informed."You are the next iteration of human evolution."
The video switched to a new one which had the title 'Project Extremis' before showing images of people being forced into a room and chained up were shown.
"Injection Tests Phase 1?"Riley murmured.
"Everybody, before we start."Aldrich complemented."I promise you, looking back at your life, there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you prudently elected to forego. Today is your glory. Let's begin."
Riley watched with wide eyes as the people began glowing orange just like that man and woman had the previous night.
The video switched perspectives till it landed on Ellen Brandt.
Riley watched with a startled expression as Ellen began groaning in pain and the video panned down to her missing arm which was beginning to reform.
The brunette became startled as the woman began to scream and was soon followed by another person screaming.
The camera turned to one of the male test subjects, who was screaming as he glowed a brighter and brighter orange.
"We gotta get out of here! We gotta get out of here!"Aldrich demanded."Get her out! Get them out of here!"
The male test subject was unable to cope with the side-effects of Extremis and ended up exploding.
Riley quickly shut her eyes before the man blew up.
The brunette immediately realised that something like that had happened on the place Happy had been in.
"Happy."Riley murmured.
Tony gave Riley a quick hug.
"A bomb is not a bomb when it's a misfire."Tony muttered.
Riley looked at her father.
"But the stuff doesn't always work."Riley commented.
"It's faulty."Tony agreed and looked to the computer with a confused look."But you found a buyer, didn't you?"
Riley furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering why her father acted like he knew the man.
"Sold it to the Mandarin."Tony murmured."Got you, pal."
"Who?"Riley questioned."Who sold it to the Mandarin, dad?"
Tony glanced at Riley and let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his neck.
"I need to tell you a story, Rye-Rye."Tony admitted."And it all starts with one man named Aldrich Killian."
After the two of them finished checking A.I.M.'s encrypted files, Tony and Riley were leaving Chattanooga.
While Riley looked at the window screen of the car and was thinking about what her father had told her, Tony spoke with Harley.
"Harley, tell me what's happening."Tony insisted."Give me a full report."
"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy."Harley replied."Do you want me to keep eating it?"
"How much have you had?"Tony questioned.
"Two or three bowls."Harley answered.
"Only two or three?"Riley said in awe.
Harley chuckled. "I know. I'm slacking."
Tony rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face.
"Can you still see straight?"Tony asked.
"Sort of."Harley admitted.
"That means you're fine."Tony assured."Give me J.A.R.V.I.S."
Riley and Tony heard a small shuffling in the background of the phone before it went silent.
"J.A.R.V.I.S, how are we?"Tony questioned.
"It's totally fine, sir."J.A.R.V.I.S. assured."I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry."
Tony gave an odd expression while Riley let out a small chuckle.
"Sir, you were right."J.A.R.V.I.S. declared."Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal."
"What are we talking?"Tony asked."Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?"
"Actually, sir, it's in Miami."J.A.R.V.I.S. responded.
Tony and Riley looked at each other before clinking in surprise.
Miami?
Their new enemy was just where they were?
That was strange.
"Hey, Harley."Riley replied."Next time we are going have to walk you through rebooting J.A.R.V.I.S.'s speech drive."
"Harley, where is he really?"Tony demanded."Just look on the screen and tell me where it is."
"Um, it does say Miami, Florida."Harley said.
"Okay, first things first, I need the armour."Tony stated."Where are we at with it?"
"Uh, it's not charging."Harley answered.
Riley tightened her teeth and immediately held onto her seat as Tony began hitting the brakes.
The car then skidded to a stop on the side of the road as Tony began to breath heavily.
"Dad?"Riley asked worriedly."Are you alright?"
Tony didn't listen to Riley's question.
"Actually, sir, it is charging, but the power source is questionable."J.A.R.V.I.S. reported."It may not succeed in revitalising the Mark 42."
"What's questionable about electricity?"Tony retorted.
"But he's got a point, dad."Riley admitted.
"All right? It's my suit, and I can't."Tony responded, struggling to give out words."I'm not gonna. I don't wanna…"
Tony began breathing heavier than he was the moment before causing Riley to become alarmed.
"Dad?"Riley questioned in concern.
"Oh, God."Tony muttered."Not again."
"Tony?"Harley questioned.
Tony quickly threw the car door open and got out of the car.
Riley immediately took her seatbelt off before opening the door and hurrying over to the other side of the car where her father was lying on the floor.
"Are you having another attack?"Harley asked in concern."I didn't even mention New York."
"Right."Tony muttered with a frown."And then you just said it by name while denying having said it."
"Seriously, Harley?"Riley scoffed, covering her face."You could've said something else like 'Popsicles' or 'Hot Dogs'. It's not that hard."
"Okay, uh…"Harley mumbled.
Tony was panting now and he wrapped his arms around himself.
"God, what am I gonna do?"Tony mumbled.
Riley frowned and didn't even hesitate before sitting down next to Tony.
The brunette reached out and took his hand in her own before squeezing it tight as she leaned against him.
"You're okay, dad. I'm here."Riley whispered softly."You're okay."
"Just breathe. Really, just breathe."Harley instructed calmly."Riley's there with you, okay? You aren't alone. You're a mechanic, right?"
"Right."Tony replied.
Tony began to relax under Riley's touch.
"You said so."Harley praised.
"Yes, I did."Tony whispered.
Riley smiled a bit as she saw her father's breathing already starting to return to normal.
"Why don't you just build something?"Harley insisted.
Tony froze at that and sat up, his breathing back to normal.
"Okay."Tony agreed.
The billionaire glanced down at Riley.
"I'm okay."Tony answered.
Riley smiled softly and Tony returned it back before hugging her and kissing the top of her head.
Tony then stood up before holding a hand out to Riley.
The brunette took it and he helped her to her feet.
Then the father-daughter duo began getting in the car.
Riley went back on her car seat as Tony looked to his phone.
After talking to Harley for a moment longer, Tony ended the call.
Tony stared at his hands before glancing over at Riley.
"Thanks, Rye-Rye."Tony thanked.
Riley smirked. "You're welcome."